People's Democracy

THE general council meeting of the CITU has called upon the working class and all the CITU units in particular to broaden the platform of unity to carry the united struggle against the anti-national policies of the NDA government to further militant heights.

The meeting, held on March 22-25, 2002 at Siliguri, West Bengal was attended by 338 members and six invitees from various all India Federations.

In his presidential address to the general council, E Balanandan pointed to the mounting struggles of the working class all over the world, especially in the advanced industrial countries against the severe fall out of the imperialist sponsored policy of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation(LPG). He also pointed to the growing momentum of the anti-LPG struggle in our country. The intention behind thrusting these policies is the establishing of the economic hegemony of the imperialists over the rest of the globe, he asserted. Referring to the US war against Afghanistan following the September 11 terrorist attacks and its arrogant muscle flexing in the name of so called war against terrorism, Balanandan mentioned that these terrorist forces were pampered and nourished by the US imperialist machinery and utilised against the progressive and democratic movement all over the world. And now, following the September 11 incidents, the same US imperialism is seeking to establish its military hegemony over the strategic central Asian region in the name of curbing terrorism. Our campaign and struggle must expose the game plan of imperialism in all its facets, the economic, political and social aspects, exhorted Balanandan.

The presidential address, while dealing at length on the pernicious communal design of the BJP and its parivar outfits in carrying on a genocide in Gujarat, called upon the working class to fight back unitedly this worst enemy of humanity--- the fundamentalists and divisive forces of all hues.

While placing the general secretary’s report in the meeting, M K Pandhe dealt in detail on the political and economic situation in the country since the last working committee meeting in August 2001. While referring to developments in the international arena and the central government's response to the same, the report noted the "increasing servility of the ruling BJP-led NDA combine to the US imperialism. While in the name of economic liberalisation, the government of India is continuously surrendering the vital interests of the national economy to them, on the political front as well, they were gradually going on the lap of the imperialist camp."

The report while referring to the Gujarat genocide perpetrated by the sangh parivar with the active patronage of the state government, noted " It is the duty of the trade union movement to expose the heinous criminal design of the BJP-RSS bandwagon through vigorous grassroots levels campaign."

While explaining in detail the all round decline in all the sectors of the economy as a result of the vigorous pursuit of the anti-national policies of LPG, Pandhe pointed to the growing united struggles against the disastrous policies, both at industry level and national plane. The all-in unity of the trade union movement was apparent in the massive countrywide strike action on April 16 against these policies and attacks on labour rights. The strike drew the active participation of more than 1.5 crore workers. Although the strike action was planned initially in the central public sector units and financial sectors only, ultimately, it got converted into a total bandh in four states and many non-PSU segments like state government employees, Anganwadi workers, workers in Port & Dock etc, joined the strike action in a big way. Despite the opposition of the INTUC national leadership to the strike, it had drawn the active participation of the INTUC unions at the industry level. This explains the increasing urge for all in unity and militant struggle against the disastrous economic policies among the mass of the workers at the grassroots level, which has to be strengthened further through series of militant countrywide united action, asserted Pandhe.

Jyoti Basu, vice president, CITU also addressed the session on April 23. In his brief, pointed intervention, Basu stressed upon the urgent need for a more vociferous and united assertion by the working class movement to defeat the disastrous policies of BJP-led NDA government. He wanted CITU to take much greater initiative in that direction. He referred to the line of ‘unity and struggle’ adopted by the CITU at its foundation conference which had not only placed it in the frontline of the country’s trade union movement but also contributed a lot in uniting the movement in militant struggles against exploitation. This has enabled the CITU for making effective united interventions against such policies. In the present critical juncture, a much more vigorous pursuit of such a role by the trade union movement alone can save the country's unity and economic sovereignty, asserted Basu.

45 members took part in the discussion on the general secretary’s report. The speakers while reporting on the activities and the strike performance in respective sectors on April 16, stressed upon the urgent need for maintaining the continuity of the struggles against these policies. They also pointed to the need for formulation of and a campaign on the pro-people alternative policy in our struggle against the policies of LPG.

A separate session was held for discussion on a specific topic: " United Struggle And Organisational Consolidation Of The Trade Union Movement" for which a special paper was circulated. The discussion paper was placed by M K Pandhe. The discussion paper made a brief appraisal of the united TU movement over the last three decades. It was noted that immediately after the birth of the CITU in 1970, efforts were made by the ruling classes to isolate it even within the trade union movement. But consistent and firm pursuit of the line of "Unity and Struggle" by the CITU foiled such a game the plan and the CITU could establish itself as the front-runner in building unity in the working class movement in defense of the rights of the workers and against the exploitative regime.

The paper noted the various stages of growth of this unity in the trade union movement of the country. While in the seventies the platform for united action was the United Council of Trade Unions(UCTU) , in the nineties it was the Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions. The year 2000 witnessed joint TU agitations with all the trade unions in the country, including INTUC and BMS participating on certain issues. At every successive stage of united trade union movement, the platform of trade union unity got widened to include various independent industry-wise federations and newer sections of workers, noted the discussion paper.

While underlining the various weaknesses , the paper stressed upon the need for consolidation of the united platform by overcoming organisational shortcomings and vacillations in order to sharpen the edge of the united struggles. It was noted that the increasing urge for united struggles among the workers at the grass root level is creating favourable conditions for wider unity and militant struggles against the policies of LPG. The CITU is required to take much more initiative in reaching to the widest sections of the workers in all sectors to ensure that such urge for united action can be sharpened further to carry the united struggle to higher pitch for reversal of these policies. Simultaneously, the concept of formation of a confederation of all central trade unions to provide for a more tangible platform of united trade union movement has to be popularised at all levels. To undertake this uphill task, the CITU has to strengthen itself organisationally, stated Pandhe.

In the discussion on this special subject, 45 members participated and put forth various suggestions based on the experience of unity exercises at the state and industry level. Among the major tasks identified after this thorough discussion were : an intensive, independent campaign by the CITU activists with the message of united struggle against the policies; an exposure campaign on the political, economic and social policies of the ruling classes at the grass roots level; and a conscious effort to extensively reach out to the workers of all affiliations with the appeal for united action.

Summing up the deliberations, M K Pandhe said "The developments in the political, economic and social scenario already posed a big challenge before us. The fast growing opposition to the economic policy is being ignored with arrogance by the BJP-led government despite their increasing isolation from the people. In this background, the BJP-sangh parivar bandwagon has been resorting to ugly communal tactics in their bid to overcome the situation. Never before the country faced such ugly disastrous design, costing the humanity so dearly. The situation enjoins upon the working class movement to expose these worst enemies of the nation and the humanity through much more powerful mass struggles and all our effort must be directed towards that."

E Balanandan delivered the concluding address emphasising the task of carrying the decisions and understandings of the general council to the grass- roots level for effective implementation.

In the above background, the general council decided to continue dialogue with other trade unions and mass organisations to draw out a countrywide plan for series of mass agitations/actions like ‘rail/road-roko, jail-bharo’ etc with the perspective of culminating the same in a bigger general strike all over the country in conjunction with simultaneous actions by other mass organisations. The issues to be highlighted are:

• against privatisation
• against the government’s move to make pro-employer changes in labour laws
• for immediate enactment of comprehensive legislation for agricultural labour
• against removal of quantitative restrictions on import
• against the policy of reckless downsizing and mounting joblessness and unemployment
• for amendment of Payment of Bonus Act and removal of ceilings
• for restoration of 12 per cent interest rate on PF deposits
• for concrete assistance for revival of sick PSUs and concrete measures for those units in small scale and traditional sectors.

To carry on an independent campaign from the CITU platform in that direction, it was decided to observe a campaign week from May 30 to June 5, 2002 against the policies of the NDA government and its attacks on the rights and livelihood of the workers, peasants and common people. This will culminate in observance of National Protest Day by all CITU unions on June 6, 2002 through massive mobilisation, dharnas, rallies etc all over the country.

The general council ended with a mass rally on April 25, at Bagha Jatin Park, Siliguri drawing several thousands of workers and people from the adjoining areas. Notable was the presence of thousands of women workers in the mass rally. The mass rally was presided over by Anand Pathak and was addressed, among others, by Jyoti Basu, M K Pandhe, Chittabrata Mazumder, Ajit Sarkar, Ashok Bhattacharya.